Jeremy Renner reveals 'tiny but monumental' mistake that led to near-fatal snowplough accident
28 April 2025, 09:22 | Updated: 28 April 2025, 09:54
Marvel star Jeremy Renner has revealed the 'tiny but monumental' mistake he made that caused his near-fatal snowplough accident.
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Renner, 54, almost died in the horror accident on New Year's Day in 2023, after being dragged under a snowplough outside his Lake Tahoe home.
He had gone out to help clear snow from his neighbours' driveways but lost control of the 14,000-pound snowcat.
The star was rushed to hospital and underwent several surgeries after breaking 38 bones and dislodging an eyeball.
In an extract from his memoir, My Next Breath, Renner said he had jumped in to save his nephew after he realised he was in danger of being crushed.
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"We were working on the long, winding driveway that climbs to an expansive parking area in front of my house," he wrote in the extract shared by the Times.
"I was in the cab of the snowcat, and Alex was on the ground attaching the Ford truck to the back of the snowcat with chains.
"We started pulling the truck out of the snow and got it unstuck. Alex went to unlatch it from the snowcat as I started to turn the snowcat around.
"But its snowblade was up high and I couldn’t quite see Alex, who was somewhere in front of me. I got out of the driver’s seat and stepped on the tracks to talk to him.
"'Before exiting the driver’s cab! — Apply parking brake,' the manual says.
"But I didn't engage the parking brake or disengage the steel tracks," Renner revealed in his upcoming memoir.
"In that moment — an innocent, critical, life-changing moment — that tiny but monumental slip of the mind would change the course of my life for ever."
The vehicle had begun sliding on the ice-covered tarmac when Renner realised his nephew was in danger.
He said he had one shot to jump across the metal tracks to get back in the cab and hit the stop button.
"My feet lost their grip on the moving tracks, and I never made it to the cab. I lurched violently forward, out of control," he explained.
"In that split second I was catapulted off the spinning metal tracks, arms flailing.
"I arced over the front of the tracks, propelled forward, down on to the hard-packed ice, where my head hit the ground hard and instantly gashed open.
"There came terrible crunching sounds as 14,000lb of galvanised steel machinery slowly, inexorably, monotonously, ground over my body. It was a horrifying soundtrack."
Reflecting on the incident, Renner said it was an "impossible" feat to attempt.
